宮中の女官たちの言葉
25th April 2022 · 1 min read
Words like おむつ (diaper) and おつむ (head) apparently came from slang used by female attendants of the imperial court (宮中の女官).
The slang came from taking the first two mora of a word and adding the prefix お. Most of these are now in common use in modern Japanese.
Examples
| Original | Slang | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| むつき | おむつ | diaper (orig. swaddling cloth) |
| つむり | おつむ | head (of baby) |
| 鳴らし | おなら | fart |
| 冷やし | おひや | cold water |
| 田楽 | おでん | oden (fish cake stew) |
| 寝小便 | おねしょ | bed-wetting |
| 数々 | おかず | side dish to rice (from 数える) |